Sodium fluoride affects proliferation and apoptosis through insulin-like growth factor I receptor in primary cultured mouse osteoblasts.

Insulin-like growth factor-I receptor (IGF-IR) is important for maintaining proliferation and apoptosis in osteoblasts. However, the details about the effect of sodium fluoride supplementation on primary osteoblast cultures on mediating IGF-IR expression are still not well-known. In this study, we used mouse osteoblasts to examine the impact of sodium fluoride on the proliferation and apoptosis; the cells were treated with IGF-IR small interfering RNA (or left untreated) and subsequently divided into a control group and six experimental groups, which were exposed to different concentrations of NaF (10(-6), 10(-5), 10(-4), 10(-3), 5 × 10(-3), and 10(-2) mol/L) for analysis at 48 h. In particular, we examined cell proliferation, apoptosis, IGF-IR messenger RNA, and protein expression levels of the various cell groups. In summary, our findings suggest that the administration of NaF affects the expression of IGF-IR in mouse osteoblasts, contributing to the proliferation and apoptosis induced by fluoride.